Cooling bed



I Patented Mar I omen STATES; v

. 1,531,344; PATENT QFFl-GE,

WILLIAM BERGER irmer/or CHICAGO; ILLINOIS, Assrenon To INTERSTATE men A1wn s'mEL courAwY, or cnIcAeo,.- 'ILLmors, A- con-roamron or rumors;

comm BED. I

'7 IppHcat'ion-filed ombeazz, 1921. seriainasoae ia- To all whom it may concern;- I

"Be 't'k ow that I, Witmm BERGER NELSON, a: citizen of the United States, re-

siding Chicago, n the b u y fCo-ok, 7

State of Illinois, having invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cooling Beds, do hereby declare that" the following is: a fhll, clear; and exact description of the same.

-Myinvention relates to cooling beds used tratio'n; Fig.2 is a view ofithesame inside elevation; Fig. 3 is a detail cross-sectional View on the line in Fig. and F ig; 4 is, asimilar cross se'ctio'nal, view of another formof rack equipped with my invention.

The objectofmy invention" is to provide an insulating pad for'the racks used'in' cool ing beds for hot; metal bars whereby thebars are protected"frombeing'chilled by the metallic troughs or pockets; Obviously thefterm bar as used herein includes all elongated shapes, particularlysuc'h as may" be cooled in packs,

In this class of apparatus each 'hotmetalfi bar as delivered from the reducinglrolls of; the mill is placed upon the s'kid s'e'ction "of p the cooling bed Composed of a series of rigid inclined skids arranged v in a uniform pla-ne and moves by gravity down the skids in step-byesteptravel controlled by suitable r esca pement deviceswhich arearranged so that the bar will be preservedin a straight line, and the bar then passes to the rack-section of the bed which is made up of'a series of parallel racks arranged usually in line with the skids and each having a series of.

transverse pockets arranged alongits length and in parallel sets disposed in straight 7 horizontal rows along the length of the bed to preserve the bars in straight lengths,

r suitable transfer mechanism being also pro-v vided to v lift and move the bars from I one row of pockets to the next row; furthermore, where the apparatus is usedforceful- ,n g acl'zs of bars mechanism is also provided to deliver'the bars to the rack-section so that they will "form a pack therein. The

bed isusual'lylong enough to accommodate bar's up to 300*feet in; length. All these constructions and mechanism are wellknown and ffor ih no partof my invention, and so neednot be here shown ordesribed in detail.

7 Referring to the accompanying 'd'iaw i'ngs whicl'i. show the features of my invention applied to" various forms of racks now I in use the reference letter A designates a rack unitem'ployed in the rack, section of the cObIin'g bed' and composed of a base 0 having marginal Webs'a each carrying a top-flange a? which is; provided along its length with a series of pockets 0 in which the'bars rest, either singly or in packs faccording to the nature of the work. In the operation of'cooling beds of the general design referred to the critical temperaturefin cooling bars for making springs is reached when the bar is in thethird series or line of pockets of the racksand inj orderto' prevent the cold metal of the racks from drawing and absorbing'the heat of the bar'I insulate thebearing face of a plurality'ofthepockets in the receiving end of each bar by attaching thereto an insulating pad 'B'composed of a cover of any "suitable metal by which it can be assembled in place on the rackand a filler of any suitable insulating material; inthe form shown in the drawings the cover of the pad is composed of upper and lower strips ofs'heet iron ortin between which a fillingof asbestosisretained, and the ends of the top section of the cover embrace the opposite sidesofthe flanges (f. In the form of rack shown'inFigs; 2 and 3 the 'f'aces'of the pockets'a're bevelled laterally toward both sides ofthe" flange from their central longitudinal line, and in the form shown in Fig. 4; the faces are plane with a straight vertical rib or rail of extending from the top of the pocket to its bottom. In the form shown in tos b between. The metal cover, besides forming a convenient means to fasten the ad in place, protects the insulating material from the abraiding and wearing action of the bars as they slide down intothe pockets. It is obvious that more or less of the pockets of the racks may be thus protected according to the nature of the work; in the form shown I insulate the first three pockets of each rack for the reason stated. r

While the insulating pads are useful in protecting all forms of bars from the chilling action of the racks-and so carry the cooling bars without chilling their surfaces resting on the racks until the bars have uniformly cooled-throughout their length toa point below their critical temperature, they are particularly usefulfor cooling barsused for making vehicle springs. In cooling metal bars intended to form vehicle springs they are usually cooled in packs, each pack consisting of a pluralityof superposed bars accumulated in the first longitudinal row of pockets, and the transfer mechanism advances the packs at suitable intervals stepby-stepfrom one row of pockets to the next row across theracks to allow the heat from the center of the pack to anneal the surface, and by insulating the racks their cold metal is prevented from absorbing or pulling the heat from theb'ottombar; of the pack with the result ascertained from actual practice that the bottom bar of the pack is prevented from cooling faster than the others and anneals to the same degree of hardness as the others, so that when the pack is cooled all its bars are below the Brine-ll test which is the standard of hardness of Vehicle spring makers and assemblers. V

hile I prefer to make the pad as shown it may be constructed in any suitable manner and of any suitable material that will ensure the desired conditions of insulation of the bar from the rack to prevent the latter from drawing the heat out of theforiner.

Byinsulating the pockets at the receivingend -of the racks pack-annealmg of bars and, rods can be automatically done in process between the rolling-mill and shear, thus obviating the necessity of subsequently annealing them by a later and separate process. For example, bars or flats of certain alloy steels, and particularly those used for making vehicle springs, are of such analysis that they will not pass the Brinell' test when cooled on an ordinary cooling bed unless line of pockets, and it was found in practice that the cold faces or surfaces of the first three'lines of pockets prevented the bottom bars of the packs from annealing to the same de'greeas the others these chilled bars were below the critical temperature at this point on the bed and'did not meet the Brinell test which is the standard requirement of vehicle spring manufacturers. For this reason the loss in output: of the mill was very considerable, amounting at times toimportant percentages of the metal rolled, and involved a serious financial loss as the cost of all alloy steels is' very high. By my" invention these objections are obviated; by using insulating pads on a plurality of pockets at the receivingends of the racks it was demonstrated in practical use that pack-annealing can be successfully accomplished in the bed automatically between the mill and shear, that losses by improperly or. unevenly annealed bars are eliminated, and that the annealing in the bed of all the bars of the packs is uniform and enables them to meet the Brinelltest.

I claim: f

:1. In. acooling'bed for metal bars, the combination of a rack provided with a series of pockets arranged lengthwise thereof, and heat-insulating pads mounted on the receiving faces of aplurality of the pockets at the receiving end of the rack.

2.;In a cooling bed for metal bars, the combination of a rack provided with a. series of pockets, and heat-insulating pads on the pockets eachcomposed ofa metallic cover embracing the-sides of a pocket andof filler of asbestos.

3. In a cooling bed for metal bars, the combination of a rack provided with a series of pockets, and a heat-insulating pad'on eachof a plurality of pockets at the receiving end of the rack consisting of a cover composed of upper and lower sheets of tin and an intermediate filler of asbestos, the upper sheet of tin being longer than the lower sheet and constructed to embrace the sides of the pocket. r

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature WILLIAM BERGER NELSON. 

